Across the state, public outcry is growing over Kern County sheriff's deputies who beat David Sal Silva, an unarmed man who died less than an hour after his screams for help fell silent. Authorities tracked down witnesses and confiscated their cellphones. A video on one of those phones may now be missing. The case has brought the FBI to Bakersfield.​

It's only 100 miles north of Los Angeles and less than three hours from the coast, yet many people here say, "Well, that's how we do it in Kern County."​

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This distinctive insularity has perhaps never been more evident than now. "I think another community might really nut up over this," said Lee Yeoman, a 73-year-old retired dentist. "We've gotten used to a lot here."​

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Criticism of deputies "doesn't happen around here. The investigation isn't even complete," Swenson said. "We like and support law enforcement and usually give them the benefit of the doubt."​

A week later, on a gray, sweltering afternoon, a woman who lives across the street and her two middle-school-age sons brought a bouquet of fresh flowers from the supermarket to the corner.​

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"I was the one who brought the first flowers too," she said. "I keep thinking of the moment when Mr. Silva stopped pleading and went limp. I felt chills."​

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She declined to give her name, saying, "I can't. They came to my house. At first the officer was very polite, very professional.... But when I told him, 'No, I don't want to talk to you,' he said, 'Is anyone in your house on probation?' And my — well, it was a threat."​